Are Seben telescopes good quality

[ely_ellis]

Hi all,

Its as the title says.

Are Seben telescopes good quality.

Everyone bangs on about the Skywatcher's etc, but not heard anything about a Seben.

Looking at the 8" reflector, about £350.

Anyone have any experience with these?

Thanks

[Skybrowser]

There are quite a few comments about these scopes on SGL and they appear to be not great in terms of quality according to many and I'm sure you'll get a lot more feedback on them in the next few days.

[Moonshane]

I have never looked through one but based on feedback of others there's much better quality options for the same sort of money. when buying gear always think about the potential for future sale as if you remain in the hobby it is common to sell on to purchase the next upgrade. with Seben's reputation it would be hard to shift in these circumstances.

[steelfixer]

Hi there

I a word NO

In several words they are complete rubbish.

My first scope was a Seben and it is so bad I refuse to sell it on.

My simple advice is leave well alone and get the Skywatcher.

[John]

As Steve says,

Seben's scopes are not recommended by those that have tried them.

Here is a recent thread:

http://stargazerslounge.com/astro-lounge/132686-seben-telescopes.html

The Skywatcher, Celestron and Meade brands are much, much better and £350 would get you one of those.

[Parus major]

Step away from the landfill and keep you hands where I can see them!

[ely_ellis]

Well, seems pretty conclusive then.

I will keep well away from them.

Thanks all for the advice.

Martin

[Parus major]

Have a look at the Skywatcher Explorer models and see what you can get with the same money. Have a look at the vendor reviews on here as well and avoid ebay.

[proflight2000]

No dont do seben, i had a spotting scope and that was bad enough. You can get far better quality for the same cash. Seben are mainly sold via ebay, they sell 1600mm camera lenses as well, like looking through a pin hole.

[Specman]

Hi,

I have absolutely no experience with Seben scopes, however I do have a Seben Lab Grade microscope and it is excellent! So just because some products are poor doesn't always follow that ALL products are.

Same goes with Bushnell, really good bino's but telescopes??...No thanks!

If you stick to Skywatcher, Celestron, Meade, Williams, Tal, Vixen, Orion (maybe) you won't go far wrong. They seem to be the market leaders for amateurs and offer good performance for your money.

[paul schofield]

I have a friend who unfortunately bought a seben 114 reflector from eBay and did not get along with it at all. When he compared it to the sky watcher 130p I had at the time, although my aperture was a bit more, the differences far outweighed the 16mm of aperture. Never tried seben myself, but would steer clear due to only hearing negative things about them.

[Tribal-Wolf]

I am looking at buying a scope and saw the Seben scopes on ebay which look good value. After a few google searches I found stories of bits falling off, bad support and sellers with no knowledge of the product. There are other brands on ebay with great specs on paper but look suspicious on closer inspection. The brand that made me laugh is called 'Opticon', how apt lol.

[Karen]

Seben 'scopes have been discussed on here before and I think the concensus was they make good wastepaper bins / plantpots / doorstops.

[hayju01]

Hi there

I a word NO

In several words they are complete rubbish.

My first scope was a Seben and it is so bad I refuse to sell it on.

My simple advice is leave well alone and get the Skywatcher.

Totally agree.

And I have one sat in my loft for the very same reason. In fact i even tried to give it away to the local astro society as a loaner.

[Grotemobile]

Hi,i tried to give my one away as well.No takers.I did buy a set of

4 new EPs when i bought mine.It did get me started in this hobby.

It was not to bad with the moon & planets.With a 1400mm FL it

gave a good mag.R.I.P.

Steve.

[Tribal-Wolf]

Now's the time to bung 'em on ebay those old Sebens, scopes are bringing daft money on there right now as we have seen in other threads. Someone has to start somewhere and an old Seben might do the job, plus a fool and their money etc.